Privacy Statement
In this Privacy Statement, we have provided information about data collected and used when you:
Purchase a Volkswagen vehicle or otherwise interact with Volkswagen and our Digital Properties, vehicles, products and services
Receive Car-Net® Services (defined below).
If you are the vehicle owner, you must notify any additional drivers about the privacy practices described in this Statement and if you are the Primary Driver for this vehicle’s Car-Net Services, you must notify any additional drivers of the vehicle about the Car-Net specific privacy practices described herein.
Privacy Statement
Effective Date: January 1, 2023
At Volkswagen of America, an operating division of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., (“VW,” “we,” or “us”), we value your privacy and want you to know how your information will be handled and used. This Privacy Statement applies to information we obtain from and about individuals interacting with VW websites, mobile applications, and other online services (collectively, our “Digital Properties”); VW vehicles, products and services; hardware and software in your VW vehicle that enables you to receive the personal assistance and telematics-based services provided through VW Car-Net (the “Car-Net Services”); and through other online and offline interactions with VW. However, this Statement does not apply to business contacts or VW job applicants or employees. The privacy statement for VW business contacts and job applicants can be found here.
This Statement does not apply to VW Credit, Inc. (“VCI”) or its products, contracts, and related services. VCI has its own privacy statement, which can be found here.
Below we provide a summary of the general information we collect, how we use it, and to whom it is disclosed.
Table of Contents
1. From What Sources Do We Collect Information?
As you interact with VW and its Digital Properties, vehicles, products and services, we may collect certain information from or about you or your vehicle from the following sources:
- Directly from you, such as when you visit or use VW Digital Properties; use third-party digital properties (including social media sites and sweepstakes microsites); during other interactions such as product and related events, test drives, surveys, and promotion entries; and when you interact with our customer call centers.
- Cookies and online technologies, such as when you access or use VW Digital Properties, third-party digital properties (including social media sites and sweepstakes microsites), or VW mobile applications.
- Authorized VW Dealers, such as through leasing, service and other records provided to us by Authorized VW Dealers.
- VW-authorized sellers of consumer merchandise.
- Our affiliates, including VCI (if you finance your VW vehicle purchase or purchase products from VCI) and other companies within the Volkswagen Group family of companies.
- Third party service providers, Integrated Content Providers and Optional Third Parties (defined in Sections 4.7 and 4.8 below).
- Other third parties, such as companies that provide or sell lists of potential vehicle purchasers and current owners, data brokers, business partners, public sources, social media platforms and networks, or other parties that interact with us.
2. What Information Do We Collect?
As you interact with VW and its products and services, we collect different types of information from you based on the interaction, such as when you purchase a vehicle and subscribe to Car-Net services.
The types of information that VW collects about you include:
- Identifiers, characteristics and other information you provide, including contact information; authentication information you create (such as a Volkswagen ID, date of birth, or other information to verify your identity); your preferences, photographs, user-generated content, and other materials that you may submit; demographic information; account and billing information, including financial data used for payment purposes; and profile information and settings (such as your preferences or information about personalized services).
- Commercial information regarding vehicle purchase/lease/service, including contact information (such as name, address, telephone number, email); vehicle purchase, lease or service information (such as VIN, make, model, year, dealer, date of purchase or lease, purchase/lease price, vehicle equipment, and service history); and other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
- Vehicle usage information, such as vehicle data transmitted from your vehicle or collected or inferred from your use of the vehicle or services, including general vehicle status data (such as warning lights, upcoming service schedule, fuel level, battery level, and tire pressure); service history and fault or trouble codes; ambient data (such as outside temperature and brightness); vehicle performance data and other data about your vehicle, including its identification, condition, equipment status, or collision information; vehicle/technology usage data (such as usage of lock/unlock and remote start technology); driver behavior data (such as vehicle speed, seat belt use, and information about braking habits); information that you provide when using Car-Net Services, including information you send and information you request; and information about your interactions with us, our affiliates, our service providers, Integrated Content Providers, and Optional Third Parties related to your vehicle usage.
- Internet and electronic activity information, such as data gathered by tracking technologies when you visit our Digital Properties (as further described in Section 5 below) and information about your use of Car-Net Services, the Car-Net mobile application, and the Car-Net website.
- Geolocation data.
- Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information, such as call recording for emergency and customer service and voice command data (including any personal data included therein) and the transcripts of conversations you engage in with us via webchat, messaging apps, or social media.
- Inferences drawn from any of the information we collect to create a profile about you reflecting your preferences, characteristics, demographics and vehicle usage patterns.
3. How Do We Use Your Information?
We collect and use your information for a number of business purposes, such as:
- To provide you with products and services, such as to provide products and services you request; support your vehicle, products, and services; diagnose, repair, and track service and quality issues; communicate with you about your vehicle, products, or services; install and configure changes and updates to your services; authenticate users of our products and services; verify your eligibility for certain programs or benefits; or to provide you with Car-Net Services.
- For our own internal business purposes, such as to evaluate the usage, performance, and safety of our vehicles, products, and services; improve the quality of our vehicles, products, and services and design new products and services; operate our Digital Properties and customize the content; or to maintain internal records.
- For legal, safety or security reasons, such as to comply with legal requirements; protect the safety, property, or rights of VW and the Volkswagen Group family of companies (such as VCI’s right to repossess its vehicles, including by using GPS data) and those of owners, registered users, drivers, passengers or others; or to prevent and detect fraud or misuse of the vehicles, products, or services.
- For marketing, such as marketing our products or services or those of our affiliates, business partners, or other third parties. However, please note that we will not use or disclose precise GPS location data or your driver behavior data for our own marketing purposes or for the marketing purposes of unaffiliated third parties without your affirmative consent.
- In a de-identified or aggregated format, we may also use or disclose your information in a de-identified or aggregate manner for any purpose.
We also provide your information to third parties who use it for the commercial purpose of marketing their products and services to you.
Please note that for MY19 and older vehicles, we will only use GPS location for purposes of providing Car Net Services to subscribers, complying with legal process, or as otherwise required by law.